1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a laminated ceramic electronic component such as a laminated ceramic capacitor and a method for manufacturing the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
A typical laminated ceramic electronic component is a laminated ceramic capacitor. A laminated ceramic capacitor includes a substantially strip-shaped outer electrode formed on a side surface of a ceramic element assembly.
For example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2001-57311 discloses a chip-shaped three-terminal capacitor having a structure in which a pair of end-surface outer electrodes (e.g., terminal electrodes for signal transmission and reception) and a substantially strip-shaped side-surface outer electrode (e.g., a terminal electrode for ground) are provided on an outer surface of a capacitor body (ceramic element assembly) (see, for example, claim 1, FIG. 1, and related description in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2001-57311).
In addition, as a method for forming the substantially strip-shaped side-surface outer electrode, a method is disclosed in which a conductive paste is applied to a side surface of the ceramic element assembly and fired (see, for example, paragraphs [0053], [0067], [0068], and the like of Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2001-57311).
However, when the conductive paste is applied, due to influence of rheology of the conductive paste, for example, a side-surface outer electrode 101 is shaped such that a center portion 101a in a lamination direction is raised and thick and end portions 101b in the lamination direction are thin as schematically shown in FIG. 6, and the thickness of the side-surface outer electrode 101 in regions covering portions 102b of uppermost and lowermost inner electrodes (outermost inner electrodes) 102a in the lamination direction among a plurality of inner electrodes 102, which portions 102b are exposed in a side surface of a capacitor body (ceramic element assembly) 100, tends to be insufficient. In particular, when it is attempted to decrease the entire thickness of the side-surface outer electrode with respect to the size of the ceramic element assembly in order to increase the proportion of obtained electrostatic capacity with respect to the volume of a component (laminated ceramic capacitor), the thickness of the side-surface outer electrode 101 is further decreased at the end portions in the lamination direction. Thus, water infiltrates through the thin portions of the side-surface outer electrode 101, and moisture resistance reliability is decreased.